Method and apparatus for handling and storing plates



March 3, 1959 J. J. BABICK ET AL 2,875,909

METHOD AND APPARATUSFOR HANDLING AND STORING PLATES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 12, 1957 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING AND STORING PLATES Filed Sept. 12, 1957 March 3, 1959 J. 4. BABICK ETAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 plates from the United States atent METHOD AND-APPARATUS FOR HANDLING AN D STORING PLATES John J. Babick, Riverdale, and'Kenneth 'C. Shipley, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Inland Steel Company, Chicago, p 111., a corporation of Delaware Application September 12, 1957, Serial No. 683,575 8 Claims. (Cl.214-8) Tln's invention relates to thehandling and'storing of plates, andniore particularly to essentially fiat plates with of the plates to and from the storage area presents an operation Which must be accomplished with safety and facility to avoid injury, maintain production, and avoid extra costs.

Some of the plates used commercially have a hole therein. of about the same size which is either required for the use to which the plates are put or is put in the plates to aid handling. Convectorplates used in the'heat treatment of steel strip coils are representative of such plates and are shown and described fully in United States Patent No.. 2,607,577, issued August 19, 1952. Since such plates areessentiallyfiat they have been stored and handled in stacks, oneplate upon another. A'handling device having a shaft which is of a size slightly smaller than the hole in the plates has been used to transport the storage area to the place of use and back again by inserting the shaft through the hole of one or more of the plates and holding them in place by suitable trip means and controls. Individual plates or stacks thereof may be handled by the device in this way.

For the handling device to function properly, the plates must be stored with the'holes axially aligned continuously so that'the shaft of the handling device may be inserted without obstruction. Since the holes must notbe obstructed, the plates have been stored conventionally with pickets around the perimeter to hold them in place. This method ofstoring plates, and particularly convector plates, has never been entirely satisfactory because the plate holes-were seldom properly aligned. With convector plates the problem has been even more pronounced since the outside diameter of the plates varies considerably from others of the same kind due to the wide temperature ranges to which they are subjected during heat treating operations and also warpage that results therefrom.

According to the present invention there are provided novel methods and apparatus for storing and handling flat plates with a hole therein of substantially the same size, and particularly convector plates, which keeps the holes aligned at all times that the plates are stored in a stack.

The method broadly comprises-arranging a column of a size slightly ,below the size of the hole in the plates for reciprocal axial movement, picking up a group of such-plates on a platehandling device having.

a .shaft which projects into the hole'in the plates, aligning the column and shaft on a common axis, moving the column and shaft synchronously until the plates on the shaft come to a storing station, releasing the plates from the shaft, and substantially synchronously moving the shaft out of, and the column into, the hole in the stack of plates.

2,875,909 Patented Mar. 3, 1959 umn' top from about the base of the storage 3 station through the hole of.at least the plates stored at the storage station, said means being responsive to a plate handling device having a plate .holding shaft so that syn-' chronous reciprocal movement, in'one'direction at--a time, of'the column and shaft in the alignedplateholes is effected.

The invention will now be described in conjunction with the attached drawings, :in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan viewof a representativeconvector plate; I

Fig. 2 is an elevational view showing convector plates positioned for use in heat treating acoil'ofsteel strip;

Fig. 3 shows a plate-pick-up and conveying device holding a stack ofplates;

Fig. 4 is an elevation insection of theapparatus of this invention taken at line 4-4 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 5 is a sectional -view of Fig. 4 taken at line 5- 5; and

Fig. 6 is a combination of Figs. 3 and-4 showing the cooperative arrangement of the apparatus atone stage of the plate handling operation.

In the drawings thesame number shall beused in all views for the same elements unless indicated otherwise.

A convector plate 10 is shown in Fig.1 tohave outer ring '11 (about -6 feet in diameter) and .innerring 12 (about 16m 24" diameter),-both'of-which rings:are connected by convolute strips 13 of the same-general configuration. The space between adjacent strips 13 is open to permit flow of-hot gas. -Ring12defines:holef14.

sired), steel coil21 on top of the convector plate and another convector plateontop of .thecoil. ThiSIiS'IG- peated until there are about 4 or 5 coils ina stack with aconvector plate between adjacent coils. The furnace top or cover, not shown, is placed overa seriesof such stacks of coils .and hot. gas circulated. through 'therstack by fan 22 and the aid of the convectonplates. The coil -hole:23 is generally about thesize of, :or'. larger than, the convector holet14.

Av convector "plate handling :device. 32: of; a itypezoften inprior art .use is shown 'in.'Fig..-3. Thishas'zshaftfifl holding astackioftconvector platesaIO. 'A trip means? 31 projects .under the lowermost ;'p1ate to ,keep the stack of .rplateszfrom :sliding off. .Tospickfiup. plates the device is moved, :and isiindicated inthe assembly of ;Fig. ,2, and then loweredmntil shaft 30 extendsintoconvector :hole 14 hand coillhole .23 sufficientlyfaru to have trip means .31 engage; -the convector plate. While this. is .takingplace whatever convector plates are already-on shaft 31 are-momentarilysupported on the convector plate :and

coil of Fig. 2.

. for subsequent rehandling why the pick-updevice, .-.the plates. are conveyed toia storage,station,=.as shown in-Fig.

Tdstorethe stack ofrplates-conveyed byLthepick-pp device 32 so that -the -ho1es-will be maintained aligned 4, which is provided with column 41 arranged-for .synchronous reciprocal movement: up and down in relation to the .pick-upshaft-31. The columnisshowntorbe round and to havea diameter slightly. lessthan.'the..hole.int the convector-plates.

bottom of the column or at some other location thereon. Generally, the length of the cables is adjusted so that upward movement of the column stops when the weights come to rest on the pit bottom 62. The sum of the weights is made significantly greater than the weight of the column. To cushion the column at its lower most point of movement plate 50 is provided at the bottom of ,lt'he well box 43 supported by springs 51. A heavy pro- ,tecti'ng plate 52 is provided on top of the floor on which the stack of convector plates can rest at the storage station. Plate 52 has a round hole and covers the pit and well box but lets the column project through.

Synchronous movement of the shaft of the convector simplest manner by aligning the shaft and column, bringing the shaft nose 60 into engaging contact with column cup 61 and pushing the handling device 32 downwards .such as by force of gravity. Doward movement is conthereby keeping'them in line constantly. The column will continue upward movement until it is in its most extended position.

To pick up one or more of the convector plates from a the storage rack, the handling device is aligned in contact with the column, the shaft and column moved downwards synchronously, by gravity or other means, until the shaft has penetrated sufliciently far to engage the number of plates which it is desired to remove.

Movement of the column downwards is obviously arrangedso that the bottom most plate on the rack can be removed by the handling device.

Various changes and modifications of the invention can be made and, to the extent that such variations incorporate the spirit of this invention, they are intended to be included withinthe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: 1. The method of storing and handling similar flat plates with a hole therein which comprises arranging av columnofa size slightly below the size of the hole for reciprocal axial movement, picking up a group of such plates one. plate handling device having a shaft which projects into'the hole in the plates, aligning the column and shaft on a common axis, moving the column and shaft synchronously until the plates on the shaft come to a storing station, releasing the plates from the shaft, and

substantially synchronously moving the shaft out of, and thecolumn into, the hole in the stack of plates.

2. The method of storing and handling similar flat I plates with a hole thereinwhich comprises arranging a column of a size slightly below the sizeof the holein j substantially vertical position with means for reciprocal movement of the column up-and-down, picking up a group of such plates on a plate handling device having a shaft which projects into the hole of the plates, aligning thecolutnn top and shaft bottom in contact with each other on a common axis, moving the column and shaft downwards synchronously until the plates on the shaft reach-a resting place, releasing the plates from the shaft,

, and substantially synchronously moving the column and shaft upwards until the column at least projects through the plates at rest.

plate handling device and the column is achieved in its 3. The method of storing and handling similar flat plates with a hole therein which comprises arranging a column of a size slightly below the size of the hole in substantially vertical position with means for reciprocal movement of the column up-and-down, picking up a group of such plates on a plate handling device having a shaft which projects into the hole of the plates, aligning the' column top and shaft bottom in contact with each other on a common axis, maintaining said alignment and contact while moving the column and shaft downwards synchronously until the plates on the shaft reach a resting place, releasing the plates from the shaft, substantially synchronously moving the column and shaft upwards until the pick-up device is moved to a different position and the column at least projects through the plates at rest, bringing the pick-up device back so that the shaft is again in alignment and contact with the column, moving the shaft and column downwards synchronously so'that the shaft enters the hole of at least some of the plates at rest, gripping the plates on the shaft, moving the shaft and plates held thereon to a different position while the column returns to an upward position projected into any remaining plates left at rest. I

4. The method of storing and handling similar fiat convector plates having a circular hole therein which comprises arranging a circular column of a size slightly below the size of the hole in substantially vertical position with means for reciprocal movement of the column upand-down, picking up a group of such plates on a plate handling device having a circular shaft which projects into the hole of the plates, aligning the column top and shaft bottom in contact with each other on a common axis, moving the column and shaft downwards synchronously until the plates on the shaft reach a resting place, releasing the plates from the shaft, and substantially synchronously moving the column and shaft upwards until the column at least projects through the plates at rest.

5. Apparatus comprising a column, a storage station which can support a stack of plates which have a hole' slightly larger than the column, and means for effecting reciprocal axial movement of the column top from about the base of the storage station to an extended distance from said base, said means being responsive to a plate handling device having a plate holding shaft so that synchronous reciprocal movement, in one direction at a time,

- of the column and shaft is effected.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 in which the base of the storage area is at floor level and the column moves vertically up-and-down guided in a well box below floor base which can support a stack of plates which have a hole a slightly larger than the column, a well box below the storage station base capable of receiving the column in vertical guided position, and counterweight means for normally maintaining the column in an extended position projecting upward through the. storage station base, said column being responsive to downward movement by downward pressure on the column.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Pierce July 2, 1940 Rea Dec. 15, 1942 

